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Japan deports man claiming to be Kim Jong-Nam

The World Today Archive - Friday, 4 May , 2001 00:00:00

Reporter: Peter Martin

ELEANOR HALL: Well, overseas now. And the new administration in Japan has successfully handled its first potential foreign policy crisis.

Swiftly deporting a man who claims to be the son of North Korea's great leader, Kim Jong-il. Kim Jong-nam, if that's who he is, is to fly to China. Along with his wife, another family member and their four year old son.

As Peter Martin reports from the Japanese capital, they entered Japan on false passports, on Tuesday. Saying they were hoping to see Tokyo's Disneyland.

PETER MARTIN: When one of the heirs apparent to the last dynastic dictatorship on earth, arrives incognito, with false papers, in a country his government doesn't even recognise, it's possible that he's planning to defect.

Or, that he's engaged in espionage. Or, that he simply wants to take a look.

Professor Yasuhiko Yoshida of Osaka University, is one of the few foreign policy experts, in Japan, to have actually been inside North Korea.

He sees it this way.

YASUHIKO YOSHIDA: I think his motive is quite personal and private.

According to the police reports, the man, Kim Jong-nam, admitted that he was trying to enter Japan to show his own son and two ladies, accompanying ladies, how Tokyo looks like. And take them to the Tokyo Disneyland. And the Nasaki Harbour shopping arcade.

PETER MARTIN: So, he wanted to do some electronic shopping, it would seem.

And the TV screen shows a copy of his forged passport. And now the car is moving ahead, towards Narita Airport.

Japanese Government, at this time, decided to take a cautious policy. And not to make a fuss. Passively and quietly, they decided to deport him back to North Korea, through Beijing. Without making any fuss.

PETER MARTIN: Might this be a good thing, for Japan. That the man next in line, or, one of those next in line to lead North Korea, apparently likes Japan. Likes Japan so much, he wants to visit Disneyland, visit Akahaka and go shopping.

YASUHIKO YOSHIDA: [laughs]. Yes, I think so. I think so.

ETER MARTIN: Kim Jong-nam, if that is his name, with wife, with son, has now boarded the flight to Beijing.

Japan's new Prime Minister has a foreign policy minefield off his hands. And, maybe, just maybe, has gained some credit with the communist North.